Ghostly Whispers
by mamapotterhead24
Summary: Draco Malfoy wakes up to find Hermione Granger dead at his feet. How did she get there? Why is there blood on his hands? And why is his father's voice in his head? Written for Strictly Dramione's Halloween Prompt 2017.


Draco's eyes flickered open and danced around the room. *Was he in the Manor?* He couldn't remember. He reached up to rub his eyes and felt something wet on his palms. He looked down at them and rubbed two fingers together.

In the dim lighting of the room, he noticed it was red. *Blood.* He jumped backwards and hit his back on a wall. His legs felt heavier than normal. His gaze dropped to where his feet should be. They were covered by a body.

He bent as close as he could to the body and pulled the shoulder towards him. The body feel backwards onto his knees and a face rolled towards him. It's hair covered it. Draco pushed the hair away from the face and gasped.

It was Hermione. Sobs wracked his body. His girlfriend was dead. The woman he had wanted to spend his life with was gone.

He grabbed her head and cradled it in his hands.

"Oh Hermione what happened? What? What did I do?" he cried, tears spilling from his eyes onto her pale, emotionless face.

*You didn't do it, I did…. Muhahahaha. *

Draco jumped and tossed Hermione's body away from him.

"Who's there?" His voice reverberated off the walls around him.

*I'm not out there…. I'm in here my boy.*

"F-Father? What did you make me do?"

*I took care of our 'problem' before you decided to marry her. *

"Father you're dead," Draco stated firmly, intent on remaining rational.

*In the physical plane perhaps…. But I shall never be gone from your thoughts Draco.*

"You're wrong Father, you're dead. And I didn't kill Hermione. Someone else did. I wouldn't hurt her, I loved her," he reasoned.

Laughter echoed in his head once more.

*Don't be silly dear boy. I have always been here and I always will be. I'll be the one keeping you from making all these idiot decisions.*

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Draco growled at himself.

*My dear dear boy… you're finally free. She won't bring you down any longer.*

Draco's eyes roved across every surface in the room. He hadn't killed her via magic, he'd killed her via muggle practices. But where and with what?

*Shall I show you?*

"Merlin father, you are a sadistic sod," Draco spat.

Lucius' laughter grew in his head.

He closed his eyes. What happened came back to him in flashes.

He was coming through the front door of Hermione's new house for a Halloween dinner party. She lit up when she saw him and he walked to her. They embraced and as she turned to walk into her dining room, a shiny silver revolver appeared in Draco's right hand. He raised it and his finger squeezed the trigger.

BAM!

His girlfriend hit the floor.

Next he saw Harry walking in, seeing Hermione on the floor and grabbing him by his hair. His head connected with the banister and he dropped to his knees, blacking out from the pain.

He blinked again and he saw Hermione crawling towards him, confusion darkening her beautiful face. She sprawled at his feet, muttering "Why Draco why?" over and over, he didn't know why.

"You bastard Father! You didn't even let me tell her I loved her before she died," he hissed, anger building inside him.

*You didn't love her, not really. Now with her out of the way, you can rise to power as the Dark Lord's successor and we can eradicate mudbloods for future generations.*

Draco shook his head and covered his ears.

"No Father, no!" he was adamant.

*Yes Draco, yes. With me at the helm you can finish what Grindlewald and the Dark Lord began. Pure blood domination!*

Draco wailed at his father's lunacy. His eyes searched for the gun.

"I won't let you win Father. Pureblood mania is not the answer!" he cried, each time he spoke his voice becoming more and more mangled.

*Yes, yes you will Draco. You will not defy me any longer!*

Draco's eyes came to rest of the shining barrel, stained red from falling into the pool of blood. He reached for it.

*No Draco! Don't! You can't! I won't let you!*

Draco could feel his father's energy pulling his hand away from the barrel of the gun. He fought the resistance and moments later he curled his fingers around the cold steel barrel. He pulled the gun towards him and held it to his chest. He checked it for bullets, satisfied to find one on the chamber. He readied it, and placed the cold foreign object against his temple. He had seen enough muggle movies with Hermione to know how people did it in the movies.

Lucius' voice rang out louder in his head.

*Draco, Draco no! Don't! You are destined for greatness! Far beyond what I, your mother or the Dark Lord ever achieved. Draco, DRACO STOP!*

But Draco's mind was made up. He pulled the trigger and heard a hollow click. He repeated the action several times, yielding the same result. Finally, he felt in his gut the bullet was there. Ready to penetrate his brain and scatter it like seeds to chickens.

"Happy Halloween Father," he muttered sardonically as he pulled the trigger.

He didn't hear the door blast open or

see the home flood with Aurors. Lucius' strangled wails screeched through his head like nails on a chalkboard.

"STUPEFY!" an Auror called. Draco fell limply to the floor.

Draco's whole body hitched and he nearly fell off his bed. His eyes opened and began to survey the room. He was somewhere inside St. Mungo's he reckoned. There were medi-witches everywhere. He turned from side to side looking for someone familiar but saw no one.

"What's, what's happened? Someone, tell me it was a dream, please.. where's Hermione? Where's my girlfriend? Help? Someone? Anyone?" He began to thrash on his bed, realizing he was tied down by thick leather straps.

He grit his teeth and struggled against the binds.

"That's a right easy way to get leather burns mate. Ought to stop If'n I was you," came a voice he didn't recognize.

"Yes, you might want to stop. They hurt like Cornish Pixie bites, devilish little blighters those ones. One can never be too careful," came a second voice who sounded a lot like that wanker Gilderoy Lockheart from his second year at school.

"Oh leave him be. It's obvious he's lost someone. He's got to be adjustin to this. He'll eventually learn not to do it. A little thrashin never hurt no one anyways. Better than arsenic poisonin innit?" came a woman's voice who sounded peculiarly like his aunt Bella, except the voice didn't set his teeth on edge.

"Take a swig of rum matey, it'll set you right," came a husky male voice that sounded like a pirate.

"Where am I?" he asked as he stopped thrashing.

"You be in Saint Mungo's o'course. In the mental side o' things. Not all of us are mental mind you, but they says we are so, here we are. Ain' no escaping neither, we've tried," another voice, sounding like a mix between Mundungus Fletcher and Hagrid reasoned.

"Where's Hermione?" He asked. Several barks of hearty laughter rang out.

"Well mister, you killt her. You went the muggle route and blew her bloody head off. Tried to do yourself too from wot I been hearin. Merlin man, how barkin's you gots to be to kill your own bloody girlfriend mate?" another voice filled in.

*He was in St. Mungo's, surrounded by crazy people...GREAT. *

"I didn't, my, my father did," he supplied.

"Ohhh right you did nothing, aye? I'm tellin you right now mate, ain't no one goin to believe that round 'ere," the first voice replied.

Draco squeezed his eyes shut against the sensory overload that was the room around him.

When he awoke, he was alone. He appeared to be in his bed from eighth year in the head boys dorms. He sat up and looked around. Yes, he was definitely in the Head Boy's dorm. That relieved him. He got up and crept to his door. He exited it and walked towards Hermione's. He knocked.

Moments later she answered.

"What do you want Draco?" she asked. He leapt at her and wrapped her in a hug.

"You're alive! Thank Merlin!" he exhaled and released her.

"Yes?" her eyes roved over him nervously.

"Okay, great. Happy Halloween. Thanks. Goodnight," he walked back towards his door.

Hermione watched after him curiously.

"Odd…" she commented before walking back into her dorm.

Back inside his room, Draco settled back into his bed alone. He was at peace knowing she was alive.

*Oh but Draco, you're never truly alone. Papa's always here. Happy Halloween Son.*

Draco's eyes popped open.

"Salazar's saggy balls!"

*Lucius' laugh echoed in Draco's ears again.*


End file.
